Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘Lemon Tree Passage’

Written by Scott Edwards

Urban legends exist for a reason, usually to just scare the knickers off of people that are new to the area.  While the stories change over the years by the people telling them, there is usually a bit of truth behind them. It can be hard to imagine that something tragic happened sometime in the past that people are making fun of now a days for spits and giggles, but that is the way of the world. While telling a story for the sake of doing so, it is important to pay your respects while doing it, because these stories can lead people to believe it as fact and take it more seriously than you intended.
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Spending another great day on the beach, Amelia and her brother Toby are not ready to leave it just yet.  Figuring out the map of the area, Maya is pleasantly greeted by a handsome local named Geordie who is looking to have a good time. As Geordie and his mate Oscar are able to befriend the tourists, they light a fire on the beach and the Americans start to tell their ghost stories. Not being impressed by what he is hearing, Oscar tells his own ghost story and claiming that it is 100% true, he is ready to put his money where his mouth is.

Telling the story of Lemon Tree Passage where a man was hit and killed on the road by a bunch of teenagers, any teenagers that drive that road at night will have a light shined on them for a short time. Wanting to see if this is true, the group loads up into the car and take a drive down the eerie road. Keeping an eye out the back window, Toby, Amelia and Oscar all see the light, but Maya and Geordie do not. With enough fun for one evening, the group head back to Geordie’s pad and have some fun until it is time to go to sleep. Knowing that the local Australian boy has the hots for Maya, Amelia is more than willing to try and give her a nudge in the right direction, even though Maya is trying not to lose control.

Waking up in the closet of the room, Maya has seen disturbing images during the night and does not know what to make of them. Putting it in the back of her mind while the group wants to give the road with its ghost another run, Oscar will stand on the road where the light emerges while the others race by him. Losing communication on their cell phones, the group heads back to find their new wacky friend, but Oscar is nowhere to be found. Seeing that Maya and Geordie are hitting it off, Amelia and Toby decide to leave them to it, but before things can get too hot and heavy, Maya starts experiencing strange phenomena. But not everything is happening exclusively to her, when the couple finds Oscar lying dead in the trunk of the car. As the night progresses and the wrath of the ghost takes out the group one by one, it is apparent that it has something to prove, but it may not be who the group thinks it is.

I would say that this movie took a while to get going, but from the opening scene, I was hooked. With something harassing Geordie’s brother Sam, I was curious how it would tie together with the other story being told. I felt sorry for Maya, as she kept receiving flashes of an awful event that took place years ago and was dragged into the situation with her old and new friends. Seeing the inventive ways that the ghost was willing to kill the group members was pretty cool and I am still unsure how everything got set up, but I will take it since the story was so dark. With a ghostly presence, plenty of drinking, an urban legend, a tormented soul and a brother who knows what is right and what is wrong, this film gives us incredible insight into the power of revenge, and damn, it did not pull any punches. Stay Scared.

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